Baseball glove or mitt



Feb. 25, 1936 w. P. WHITLEY BASEBALL GLOVE OR MITT Filed March 29, 1933 INVENTOR; WILL/HM F; WH/TLEY ATTORNE Y5 Patented Feb. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BASEBALL GLOVE OR MITT William P. Whitley, Clayton, Mo., assignor to Rawlings Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application March 29,

1 Claim.

5 form a pocket for a caught ball.

One object of my invention is to provide a baseball glove or mitt of the general type mentioned, in which the means that bridges the space between the thumb and index finger portion consists of a lacing or thong threaded through one or more pieces of rubber tubing.

Another object is to provide a baseball glove or mitt of the general type mentioned, in which the means that bridges the space between the thumb and index finger portion has a natural tendency to assume a rearwardly bowed shape or form when the glove is in use, and moreover, is of such design that the finger or fingers of the users ungloved hand will not catch on said means in the operation of removing a caught ball from the glove.

And still another object of my invention is to obtain the desirable results above mentioned, without adding materially to the cost of the glove or mitt, and without necessitating a change in the construction of gloves or mitts of the kind in which a lacing or thong is used to bridge the space between the thumb and index finger portion.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated my invention embodied in a baseball glove, but as previously intimated, the invention is applicable to baseball mitts.

Figure 1 of the drawing is a perspective view of a baseball glove constructed in accordance with my invention; and

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary View of the glove shown in Figure 1;

In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing which illustrates the preferred form of my invention, A designates the thumb of the glove, and B designates the index finger portion. The space between said thumb and index finger portion is bridged by a novel means or device which cooperates with said thumb and index finger portion to form a ball pocket or back stop of relatively great frictional area or gripping surface, that conforms to the approximate shape or curvature of the ball caught by the glove. Said means preferably consists or one or more transversely-disposed, cylindrical tubular members C of relatively great diameter or cross-sectional area, formed from flexible or pliable material and combined with the thumb A and finger portion B in such a way that when the glove is in use, the member or members C will have a nat- 1933, Serial No. 663,255

ural tendency to assume a rearwardly bowed shape or fonn, as shown in Figure 1.

When my invention is applied to or embodied in a baseball glove or mitt of conventional design, provided with a lacing or thong D that is 5 laced through the thumb and index finger portion so as to form a plurality of transversely-disposed strands I that bridge the space between said parts, the member or members C are preferably formed from pieces of relatively heavy or thick rubber tubing through which the strands I are threaded, said pieces of rubber tubing C being constructed so as to assume and remain in a bowed condition, as shown in Figure 1, thereby producing a pocket that conforms approximately to the curvature of the ball caught by the glove. Usually, each transversely-disposed strand I of the glove will be encased in a piece of rubber tubing, but if desired, only the top strand may be so encased Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

A baseball glove or mitt of the construction above described is a decided improvement upon prior baseball gloves or mitts of the kind in which the space between the thumb and index finger portion is bridged by a thong or lacing of relatively small cross-sectional area, owing to the fact that the transversely-disposed pieces of rubber tubing C of my improved glove are of relatively great diameter, and hence, exert a real frictional effect on the ball caught by the glove. When my improved glove is in use there is little or no tendency for the finger or fingers of the users ungloved hand to catch onto the bridging means between the thumb and index finger portion in the operation of removing a caught ball from the glove, due to the fact that the uppermost transversely-disposed piece of tubing C is of such cross-sectional shape and size that it will not hook under or catch onto the users finger or fingers.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, 45 an index finger portion, and a skeleton-like bridging means between said thumb and index finger portion, comprising a rearwardly bowed, transversely-disposed top member that has sufiicient inherent stillness to remain in a curved shape or condition, said top member being round in cross section and capable of fiexing slightly to provide for the relative movement of said thumb and index finger when the glove or mitt is in use.

5 WILLIAM P. WHITLEY. 

